Post by bixaorellana on Jul 4, 2009 22:45:08 GMT

Shoulder straps? Do you mean the straps on bags that people are carrying, or that hideous, sloppy non-style of letting the bra straps show outside the clothing? uck!

I will only use a shoulder strap purse. Why would anyone fortunate enough to have both hands give up the use of one simply to lug a purse around?

This: vs. this:

Or were you referring to all the people who carry their bags with the strap over the head & across the body? Perhaps they all read your "proud to be a tourist" thread and are now convinced Paris is rife with pickpockets.

Post by on Jul 5, 2009 2:31:54 GMT

Thanks to you, k2, I am now no longer concerned with what I will be wearing as I discover Paris in September. I plan to bring the same clothes I am already comfortable in that I wear when I go out here in north-central WV. Hells's bells, I already dress better than most of these people!

Off-topic, but I spent the 4th of July today with my family and a guest of a guest who travels to Paris every year! I came armed with my maps and tourbooks and learned more today than I have in the past 6 months! What a treat! This, after spending 5 hours traveling around Paris on Google Earth yesterday makes me feel as if I am actually going home! I've never liked where I came from and have spent my life searching for "home." We'll just have to see. To be continued...

Post by bixaorellana on Jul 5, 2009 14:58:02 GMT

Post by lagatta on Jul 5, 2009 15:43:35 GMT

Not very comfy on a bicycle, that, though people carry things every which way on workhorse bicycles.

I often use one of those "healthy back bags" made by Ameribag and other companies. It is a shoulder bag that can be slung across the body, for example for cycling. But I haul stuff in bicycle bags (bought cheap at a market in Amsterdam).

Post by bjd on Jul 7, 2009 11:49:05 GMT

I think you would have a more complete picture of Parisians if Kerouac took his camera to other districts of Paris. Pictures taken at an intersection in Passy, or in front of Odeon would be different than those in front of his apartment in the 18th.

Yesterday afternoon I was in downtown Toulouse. The people in an area with more expensive shops were dressed and looked quite different than those in the pedestrian street full of jeans & tshirt shops for young people. It was striking, and I was not the only one to notice the difference.

Post by kerouac2 on Jul 7, 2009 12:10:08 GMT

Actually, I was telling myself that but every day when I walk up avenue George V to go back to the metro, passing in front of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Armani, Bulgari, Agnès B, Giancarlo Ferré, Kenzo, Louis Vuitton and the Fouquet's Barrière 5-star hotel during those 300 meters, I see exactly the same people with shorts and flip flops out on the street, frumpy people, etc., and precious few well-dressed people. The people who go to those stores do not walk but instead ride in cars in Paris and are only seen furtively. Even the hairdressers have valet parking here. And you would be amazed at how a lot of the people dress who are staying in those hotels for which they are paying 600€ a night or more. They are beyond worrying about fashion.

Of course, there are people dressed for work, too, but those are not the kind of people that I am talking about on these threads, because they are not dressed that way voluntarily. At my own office there are some young people who come to work looking like they just took out the garbage, and they change into their work clothes only upon arrival. The changing room is full of stinky sneakers while they work in high heels.

I am not surprised that people in smaller cities like Toulouse dress better. Appearances are more important in places where you might run into people that you know.

Post by bixaorellana on Jul 7, 2009 15:22:13 GMT

I think you would have a more complete picture of Parisians if Kerouac took his camera to other districts of Paris. Pictures taken at an intersection in Passy, or in front of Odeon would be different than those in front of his apartment in the 18th.

Yesterday afternoon I was in downtown Toulouse. The people in an area with more expensive shops were dressed and looked quite different than those in the pedestrian street full of jeans & tshirt shops for young people. It was striking, and I was not the only one to notice the difference.

And Bjd ~~ you didn't have your camera with you!

I love these photographic tours of Paris that Kerouac does so well, and always look at them more than once.

However, we all need to be inspired by his example. Let's show our fellow denizens of Any Port how it looks were we live. The same-old, same-old street of your city or town is fascinating and even exotic to someone who's never visited your country.

Often people post that they will bring back photos from a trip they're planning. That's wonderful, but I would also love to see their everyday surroundings. "Real life" is as interesting as monuments and nature, as shown by the fascination we all have for K's Paris pics.

Post by cigalechanta on Jul 7, 2009 16:01:43 GMT

Your neighborhood looks like mine-a many ethnic mix. we have restaurants running a gambit from Irish pub to Aphganistan, Etheopian(sp?) to Portugeese.I usually wear a shoulder bag, bandolino style, except for dining, I carry a clutch.

Post by lagatta on Jul 7, 2009 16:26:45 GMT

You are right about Toulouse etc vs Paris. Toulouse is also southern, and thorughout the Mediterranean there is an old tradition of promenade - sure lessened somewhat with cars, with people staying home for entertainment more, but still there is a great see-and-be seen thing going on. I certainly experienced that in Italy, and have seen it in other countries.

I don't have a camera. Kerouac's photos look a lot like where I live in Montréal - perhaps fewer women from Sub-Saharan Africa in traditional garb (though I do see some every day) - most Sub-Saharan Africans here are highly educated; a higher proportion of Maghrebis are as well, since they are coming a long way and in general, weren't recruited as semi-skilled workers.

There are more Latin-American and Caribbean people in the latter categories, though we have also recruited many educated Haitians for example. But overall the crowds look very similar.

Post by bixaorellana on Jul 7, 2009 16:53:11 GMT

No camera? No cell phone w/camera? Do think about getting one when circumstances are right. Digital cameras are so fun and so easy. You can share pictures with the whole world right from your home. They're great in mundane ways, also. Recently I had to go pick out drawer and cabinet pulls. In order to avoid confusion and tons of boring explanation, I whipped out my camera at the hardware store, then sent the photos of the pulls directly to the carpenter.

Post by kerouac2 on Jul 7, 2009 17:43:32 GMT

Post by lagatta on Jul 7, 2009 19:00:10 GMT

bixa, I'd sketch the pulls.

No, no camera and no cell phone. I need my computer for work, and will probably get a lighter and more modern portable computer. I'd rather buy more watercolours and watercolour paper than a camera (colours and paper are expensive). I'm more than a bit of a Luddite.

Post by on Jul 9, 2009 6:06:50 GMT

Bixa has already mentioned it, but practically everybody in those pictures wouldn't look out of place in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. It's too bad too.

I would like to know: Who deemed jeans and a t-shirt with a pithy phrase or image to be the height of fashion? It's rather lazy, and bordering on depressing. It's rather like tattoos -- outward advertisement for those insecure in the beliefs. How would anybody else otherwise know you were 'alternative'?

But that's neither here nor there. In my experience, Parisians look more "Parisian" in the Winter. I'd love to see more street pictures from the Fall.

Post by kerouac2 on Jul 9, 2009 6:49:33 GMT

Yes, it's true that it is in the winter that you see a real difference in the way people dress. Even so, a lot of people in Paris in winter would very much look like New Yorkers or people from Montréal, among other cities.